Chapter 3

Karen wrung her hands together uneasily. She tried vainly to steady her uneven breath, but to no avail. Several emotions were surging through her body all at once. Excitement because she could dance crazily in front of people with an excuse. Feverishness because she had spent the past few days in bed and still hadn't fully recovered from her illness. Annoyance because her mother wouldn't stop fretting over her outfit. And, most importantly, nervousness: Why was she so nervous?

Of course she knew why she was nervous. She just wouldn't admit it to herself.

Quickly, she peered out of the back room and into the square, and immediately regretted it; she thought she might quail at the sight of Jack. There he was, with his lopsided cap and crooked grin, flourishing in the attention only the Harvest King would receive on this day. Karen closed her eyes and bit her tongue. If the Goddess had any compassion, she would be crowned Harvest Goddess this year.

"Girls!" she heard Lillia calling. "Come on now – we have the results!"

Karen murmured a silent prayer before rushing to the rest of the girls gathered around the florist, crossing her fingers for luck.

Only minutes later, Karen found herself in the elaborate pink gown of the Goddess, floating her way to the center of the square, rejoicing in her luck. She felt like bursting into dance then and there.

She was going to dance with Jack!

The more she thought of it, the better it sounded. She and Jack, the celebrated pair of the harvest, dancing together, in front of everyone...

The mayor's voice yanked her out of her thoughts by announcing that the first dance was about to commence. Her breath caught in her throat as Jack turned toward her. Her eyes wavered and frantically searched for a place to settle; anywhere but him... and they caught Ann giving him a thumbs-up sign. His reaction was to quirk that crooked grin of his and wave to her shortly before turning to look back at Karen.

And she found herself staring back, for she didn't know what else to do. She felt as though she was going to melt then and there...

Were she not feeling as though she wanted to leap for joy, she would have frowned. This was dangerously unlike her.

Sonya spent the next few days in bed after receiving a rather loud lecture and a scrape across her cheek from her father, and in turn she bit his arm, leaving a large red mark she hoped was permanent. She didn't cry; she was better than him and she knew it, and she wasn't going to allow him to faze her. So, of course, the moment she recovered from her illness and was allowed to get out of bed, she spent as little time around her house as possible.

It was of worthy note that the Flower festival was approaching. Sonya's generation of girls (she, Mint, Mia, and May, who was eight years older than the girls and caught between two generations) were too young to enter the festival, and would be until they each reached the age of thirteen. Sonya would be thirteen on the 26th of Spring. No one seemed to notice, though - but she preferred it that way. Mint had turned thirteen a season before. Mia, however, was only eleven, and would be until the 5th of Summer. That would mean next year, the three would enter the festival. Of course, Mia wouldn't be rightly qualified, but they'd make an exception for her, as they always did.

Sonya went to Jack and Ann's farm the day before the festival. She had no wish to see her father. Ann, who was probably the closest female friend Sonya had, gave Sonya one of her dresses which she had once worn as a girl, (Ann admitted shamelessly that she almost never wore dresses, so Sonya's choice of wardrobe was limited) along with a few pieces of jewelry (which Ann also admitted to never wearing). John laughed after seeing Sonya dressed formally, and Jack had to threaten them with his sickle to stop wrestling after Sonya had thrown herself upon John.

On the day of the festival when everyone had gathered in the square, Elli, who was the baker and Rune's mother, pulled Sonya, Mint and Mia aside.

"I want you to come into the back room with us," she said. "You all will be entering next year, and I want you to see how it's done."

It was an interesting process. Lillia, Popuri's mother, entered the back room minutes after they had all arrived, announcing the winner (it was Ann, who nearly groaned in anxiety). Popuri seemed both shocked and disappointed, but tried not to let it affect her too much. Elli and Maria didn't seem surprised at all, considering who this year's Harvest King was. Ann didn't seem to be affected as much as the others were; in fact, she seemed almost pleased with the fact that the burden of representing the Harvest Goddess would be passed onto someone else the following year. All, save Ann, seemed rather crestfallen. At first Sonya thought this was because they had not won, but soon realized that this was their last chance to become Goddess. As stupid as this festival was, it was probably a hard thing to let go of – letting go of the festival meant letting go of their youth. Looking at Ann, Sonya decided that she wouldn't let next year's decision affect her, either.

After all was said and done, Lillia approached the three younger girls. "I want you all to walk out throwing flower petals to mark Ann's path," she said. "You've seen your mothers do it," (Sonya suddenly felt angry, Lillia knew perfectly well she'd never seen her mother do it) "and I want you three to do it, as well - practice for next year. And make sure you watch Ann and what she does carefully."

Mint and Mia nodded fervently; Sonya did nothing. She was too angry at Lillia to do anything polite for her. Lillia shooed them all in line. Mia stood behind Elli and Maria, Sonya and Mint stood behind Popuri.

"And now," she heard the mayor's old yet strong voice say, "the Goddess and her entourage have arrived!"

Sonya didn't know she was supposed to be moving until Mint had given her a shove. She stumbled forward, catching up with Popuri and quickly flicking flower petals out of her basket. Mint cast her a threatening look; unlike the rest of the women, Sonya had not gracefully stepped out of the door, gently tossing handfuls of flower petals on her way down. She searched the crowd for John's jeering face so she could give glare daggers at him, but didn't find it before Ann had stepped out of the door and made her away along the path. She wore that beautiful gown she had seen countless times before; a dress in a light shade of pink which hung loosely around her skinny frame, flowers strung around her neck and waistline. Several more multicolored flowers adorned her hair where her white bow usually would have been, yet Sonya was relieved to see that her orange hair remained in that long braid she was so used to. Ann took a graceful bow (Sonya could tell she was resisting the urge to march back into the back room and change back into her overalls) and stepped toward the mayor, taking her place on his left.

Sonya picked at her gown, seemingly indifferent. To her, this festival was unequivocally idiotic, though she was certain Mint and Mia didn't agree with her views. To be honest, they seemed to be enjoying it thoroughly. Mint was chattering excitedly to Mia, undoubtedly about who would be whose dance partners. Sonya rolled her eyes with the same uneasy disgust most children have towards romance, and fixed them on the couple twirling in the square. Some of the villagers were clapping in tune to the music, and Jack and Ann were laughing as though this was the silliest thing they had ever done in their life, but it wasn't hard to tell they wouldn't want to be doing anything else.

Hoping she was right in assuming that all eyes were fixed upon Jack and Ann, Sonya slipped quietly away from her position next to Mint's mother. She spotted her father, sitting in his lonely corner as he always did at the dancing festivals, gazing at his hands as though they were the most fascinating things in the world. Sonya was suddenly overcome with sympathy for her father, and she shyly stepped into his corner and sat next to him.

"Dad?" she asked timidly. She wondered momentarily why she was even bothering talking to him, but finally settled with the fact that he was her father, and she had to.

"Yeah?" he croaked. His eyes never left his hands.

"You okay?"

Kai tilted his head to look at his daughter, who was gazing at him with the worried eyes of her mother. It pained him, but he gazed right back into them. He forced a gentle grin. "Yeah," he finally answered. "You know I'm always like this."

Sonya frowned and turned away, noticing the rest dancing had already begun; Popuri was clasping hands with Gray and Mia was blinking lamely at Rune's outstretched hand. "Let's dance," she said suddenly, surprising Kai. It was not a request; it was a demand. Before he had the chance to answer, his daughter was tugging at his wrists. "Come on," she prompted. "Let's show these losers how it's really done."

Kai almost couldn't believe how conceited Sonya was acting, and at the same time how it was so endearing. However, he embraced the fact, for she was only acting like Karen would.

Kai stood up, almost smiling as his daughter led him into the square.

After the music and dancing had ceased, after the piles of food had been reduced to plates of crumbs, after the rose bunches were scattered and the wine bottles emptied, the sun had set, and all but few remained in the square. Mia sat in a corner under a cherry tree, apparently sketching. Sonya took her place at the bench and surrounded herself with what was left of the wine. Jack, Ann and John were left in the center of the square, mother and son swaying as if the music were still playing.

"Mom!" John was complaining. "I can dance fine!"

"Oh please," retorted Ann, fastening her son's hand at her waist. "You would have looked horrible out there if it weren't for your cousin."

"Relax, Ann," Jack put in. "He did fine."

"Not as good as Mint," said Ann bluntly, and John made a face. "And we're going to fix that!"

"But Mom, she's a girl, she's supposed to dance good..." John cut in.

Ann only winked. "Trust me, hon, you'll thank me later."

Sonya took the time to turn away from her wine to watch the family, for lack of anything better to do. John had just finished saying something about how dancing was a girlish thing, and Ann snorted.

"On the contrary," she was saying, "dancing can be a very masculine thing. How else are you supposed to woo a girl?"

"Mom!" John made a disgusted face.

Ann ignored him and continued. "Your father should know, I remember the first time we danced..."

Jack chuckled modestly. "I wouldn't say that. Kai was ten times better than me."

"Well of course!" said Ann. "You can't compare anyone to him. He and Karen had everyone completely mystified when they danced! I mean, they did win Harvest King and Goddess every year..."

"It's a shame Kai stopped dancing." Jack rubbed his neck.

"He was dancing with Sonya this year," Ann pointed out.

Sonya was intrigued, frozen in her place, all of her attention focused on the couple talking about her family, of all things. She wondered briefly if they knew she was there. Mia, meanwhile, had taken this opportunity to sketch the girl fixed in place.

"Well yes," Jack was saying, "but it wasn't like he used to."

"True." Ann sighed, disheartened, and released her hold on her son, much to John's relief.

"I wonder if Karen still dances?"

Ann shrugged. "Probably. Dancing was all she had. Well, except for the vineyard, but that's pretty much gone."

Sonya scowled, finding it hard to not take the comment personally. But Ann was right; the vineyard was failing, whether or not she chose to acknowledge it.

"Anyway," Ann lightened her tone, "Let's get back to business. John, get over here and put your hand back on my waist. Sonya, you can join us, if you like."

Sonya looked up, surprised. "No thanks," she said calmly. "I should... I should be getting back home."

"Okay," said Ann. "We'll be here if you need us."

"Thanks," said Sonya, standing up quickly and striding out of the square. Ann sighed and shook her head, waiting a good minute before continuing the conversation.

"I still think it was wrong of Karen to just get up and leave like that. Look what it's done to Kai... It's bound to have an affect on her daughter." John blinked at the sudden remark.

Mia, who was busy cursing her luck and trying to sketch Sonya's position from memory, glanced up. Apparently she was more inconspicuous than she thought; this conversation was obviously not for her ears.

Jack sighed. He could think of nothing to say.

"What made her leave?" continued Ann. "She had a whole life ahead of her..."

"I think it was the vineyard," said Jack. "It was doing so poorly."

"But her family, Jack!" Ann protested. "She had a husband who loved her and an adorable little girl... What more could she want? They could've made the vineyard work!"

Jack shrugged in defeat. Ann stared, waiting for a reply, but received none. After a minute of silence, Jack finally said, "It's getting cold. Let's go home."

Ann sighed tiredly and wrapped her arm around her husband's waist. "You're right," she said. "Let's go." They began to make their way off of the square, John following silently.

Mia counted a full two minutes in her head before she dared to get up. She tucked her sketchbook under her arm and hurried off the plaza, silent as a mouse.